I think you are confusing ‘the vast majority of female comedians’ that you have seen, with all female comedians that are currently performing.

As a live and broadcast comedy fan, I’m pleased to say that the tide is slowly turning. Jo Brand, for example, who even in 2013 will still do cake and husband jokes (though to be fair, those are more spousal jokes, than being specifically anti-men), is being shown up by the current new generation of female comedians. And, you’ll find a higher proportion of female comedians who do sketch, character, situation and musical comedy, than who just do mainstream and alternative stand-up.

I agree with most of you’ve said, except that you can’t really blame the producers for setting the topics. If the guests have nothing funny to say about the topics used, that’s their fault - they need to up their game!As for ethnicity, I think that is just as unimportant as gender, when it comes to booking guests on an entertainment program. It’s not supposed to be serious, and panels are not supposed to represent the UK population at large, nor should they have to. Don’t confuse Mock The Week or 8 Out Of 10 Cats with Newsnight and Question Time!

I think you are confusing ‘the vast majority of female comedians’ that you have seen, with all female comedians that are currently performing.As a live and broadcast comedy fan, I’m pleased to say that the tide is slowly turning. Jo Brand, for example, who even in 2013 will still do cake and husband jokes (though to be fair, those are more spousal jokes, than being specifically anti-men), is being shown up by the current new generation of female comedians. And, you’ll find a higher proportion of female comedians who do sketch, character, situation and musical comedy, than who just do mainstream and alternative stand-up.

Neither… it’s just irrelevant.Mock The Week’s line-up is not supposed to represent the UK population at large. People are booked to appear because of their:- talent (are they funny and quick)
- experience (can they last a two hour ‘bearpit’ recording - it’s very different to stand-up)
- popularity (some of the panel need to be known to and liked by the viewing audience, or else they’ll not bother to watch at all)
- material (do they generally comment on topical issues - female comics are less likely to do this!)
- availability (are they free on the night of the recording and able to get there in time)
- willingness (not everyone who fills all of the above criteria actually wants to be on every week, or even at all!)As far as most of the audience are concerned, the only criteria they really have is that the people are funny. The mainstream audience doesn’t (and certainly shouldn’t) care about their race, gender, age, sexuality, accent, beauty, height, weight, disability…

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